LENA

 

When they shoved me through the door and into the next room, I wasn't sure what to expect.

It wasn't this.

It wasn't six Etrallian guards, all heavily armed like my captors and it certainly wasn't him, standing there across the room, staring at me as if he'd seen a ghost. As if he was surprised to see me.

"Henry." My voice sounded strangled and shrill to my own ears. I wanted to kick myself. Keep it together, Lena. I opened my mouth to try again, but Commander Zubeida drowned me out.

"Throw her in the airlock with the others," he bellowed.

The hands on my arms squeezed tighter than I thought possible. I didn't cry out again, I only sought Henry's eyes amid the buzzing that had suddenly erupted in my ears. I couldn't think, could barely move my feet as the guards half dragged me across the floor.

Henry clenched his jaw but stood his ground, an immutable statue at his post.

Was this what it had come to? Was this really how it ended?

Henry.

The doors slid open with a whisper. First I saw Mars and then I recognized the others. My team.

The guards drew their stun sticks but there was no need. My colleagues weren't trying to escape. They stood stunned. Already too shocked to flee. I saw the fear in their eyes before I hit the ground, hard. I collapsed onto my knees, the cold metal the only firm thing left on this ship.

When the airlock slid shut, I heard the pop. This was it. This room was contained, separate from the airflow of the ship. All they had to do now was hit the release on the exterior hatch and we were as good as space dust. I forced myself away from the window of stars outside.

This wasn't over yet.

"Henry!" I didn't scream so much as bark his name. I roared it as loud as I could until I was sure I might collapse again. They were all watching us through the small window but there was only one Etrallian I needed to reach. I banged my fists against the metal.

"Lena." Mars eased my bruised hands off the door. "Jesus, save some air for the rest of us, will you?"

My chest heaved and I tried desperately to calm myself.

"He wouldn't. He can't." My mind raced. Where had I gone wrong? What had I missed? Henry was our friend. Our ally. He wouldn't do something like this. He was pro-alliance, had always been pro-alliance.

"He's standing with them," said Mars gently. "There's nothing we can do now."

I looked back at the interior. Henry was standing by the console, watching me silently. And he still had his comm device in.

"Lena."

I brushed off Mars's protests and yelled even louder than before, praying that the airlock wasn't completely soundproof.

"Henry, I know you can hear me. I know you can understand." I took a deep breath and realized I had no idea what I was doing. What could I say that would make any difference? Even if Henry wanted to save us, how could he in a room full of anti-alliance fanatics bent on killing us?

"Henry, please." Even across the room and through the plexiglass his eyes were the same sea green I had come to know. He was in there somewhere and I couldn't die without trying to find my way back to him.

"Henry, if you can hear me, I need you to know. I'm still committed to the alliance. Even after everything. Even after this." I gestured to the people behind me, huddled like rats awaiting their fate. "I'm committed to it because I believe in it. It's what I've always believed in and if I must die, I'll die believing in it, too. But please, if there's anything you can do to stop this, you have to try."

Please, I begged with my eyes.

"I know you believe in this just as much as I do, maybe more. You can help make it possible. The alliance isn't dead yet."

"Now." Zubeida's voice boomed on the other side and I was relieved to find that I could hear him through the door. That relief quickly turned into a wave of nausea as I realized he was speaking to Henry.

The console.

Henry was the one stationed in front of the controls.

My colleagues were shifting in agitation now. Someone was crying.

The initial shock wave broke with the sound of the Commander's order. The realization that our lives were about to be snuffed out like candle flames stirred a primal survival instinct. Everyone rushed for the door, clawing to get past each other even though there was nowhere to go.

"Henry!" I banged on the door with the rest of them. "Henry, please." I banged until my fists were slick and I couldn't feel my hands anymore.

"You're better than this," I screamed. "You're more." My voice cracked, throat hoarse from yelling.

Someone gasped beside me, drawing a great lungful of air.

Henry's clawed fingers shifted, inched toward the release valve. The door switch. The kill button.

I couldn't fight any longer. I could only stare in utter disbelief at the stranger about to become my murderer.

A dull boom reverberated through the door as if something very heavy had been dropped on the other side. Smoke filled the room and suddenly all the Etrallia were scrambling.

Henry drew his blaster.

My fingers clamped around the metal ridge of the door. It was still solidly sealed. On the other side, smoke was everywhere, billowing further into the room. The Etrallia fired blindly toward the door as their comrades began to fall.

A rescue? Or had we been dragged into the middle of a civil war?

A moment later, I caught a glimpse of blonde hair. A soldier dressed in uniform.

"He waited." Mars grabbed my arm. "When I was captured...he must have waited."

"Rhine?" It didn't matter now how he'd found us. As long as we were in the airlock, we were still in danger. I watched helplessly as Rhine disappeared back into the smoke.

A flash of blue fire shot across the room. The Etrallian next to Zubeida stared for a moment at the hole in his chest. Zubeida yelled and whipped toward the attacker.

Henry fired again. This time, the shot caught the Commander in the arm. But it was the wrong arm.

Zubeida pressed a finger to his trigger.

I screamed, the sound of my rage drowned out by a great hiss of air as the airlock doors swung upward. I sprinted out of the airlock and across the room, heedless of the shots being fired.

At my back, Mars shouted a warning, but I was concerned only with getting to Henry. I fell to the floor beside him, bruising my knees, and shoved my hands to his chest. He'd been shot near the heart and I couldn't tell if it was lethal yet.

I didn't realize I was still screaming until Rhine shouted my name.

"Lena." He shook me roughly. "To the pod. Now!"